Local producers are at the heart of the food on offer at the National Trust's restaurants and tea-rooms in the East of England. It is these people, dedicated to producing local, seasonal food of the highest quality, who bring our menus to life. Here are just a few of the hard working people who help bring food to life.
Fairfields Farm Crisps, Wormingford near Colchester (supplies all East of England Trust properties)
Robert and Laura Strathern, husband and wife team, launched the Fairfields Farm Crisps brand about two and a half years ago. Their main living is growing potatoes, they grow about 450 acres of potatoes which are for the fresh market and the crisps. Robert has just started planting this years crop.
The office staff consists of Laura and Vanessa, Fairfield’s salesperson. On the farm, numbers depend on the season, with eight planting at the moment, going up to 20 in the summer for harvest.
Laura explained how it all started:
'We were fed up with seeing other brands around in farm shops, and wanted to launch something much more local. We have linked up with other local producers to get our flavours for the crisps. There is traceability right the way through the supply chain from our potatoes to the flavour. We have linked up with Aspalls for the Cyder vinegar, Suffolk Farmhouse Cheese Company, and Wicks Manor Smoky Bacon near Maldon for our bacon. We also produce parsnip crisps using Essex honey to flavour parsnips.
'The brand is going well. It’s a very competitive market, but we have got our foot in the door and people are starting to recognise the brand. We’re very busy at the moment despite the economic climate, getting new customers every week. The National Trust has been on the books since June 2007, almost from the start of business. It is big part of our business, with a large number of orders each week from different properties across the region. We get good feedback from National Trust visitors who take the time to email and phone.'
Jackson’s Bakery, Saxmundham (supplies Dunwich Heath Tea-room)
Established during the last bread strike over thirty years ago, Jackson’s is a family business. John Jackson, a former charge hand plant operator at Sizewell used to make bread and rolls as a hobby. During the bread strike, people started to ask Mr Jackson for a loaf of bread, so he made the decision to set up a bakery business. His two elder sons and their wives both work in the business now. The business consists of a bakery and shops in Saxmundham, Halesworth and Ipswich.
Mr Jackson said:
'We bake in the old traditional way, keeping it as natural as possible, the same as you’d make bread at home. My sons have enlarged the business by buying bigger mixers to improve the quality and save time. Our flour comes from Marriages in Chelmsford and ADM in Peterborough. We bake white, brown, wholemeal and wheatcraft bread and rolls for both wholesale and retail. Our wholesale customers include pubs and shops from Ipswich up to Raydon.
'The balance between wholesale and retail business has change considerably over the years, with wholesale having been cut drastically. We used to serve seven Post Office stores in the area which are not there anymore. In Ipswich, there used to be just three supermarkets where there are now ten. Consequently we supply just four or five shops in Ipswich when we used to supply 15 to 20.
'We have a good friendly relationship with the team at Dunwich Tea-room, and I must say it’s a privilege to serve a nationwide concern. The National Trust is one of our longest standing wholesale customers at well over 20 years, so I’m glad local knowledge said we were ok!'
Riverfarm Smokery, Bottisham (supplies Anglesey Abbey)
Riverfarm Smokery is a traditional brick kiln smokery, based in the World War I buildings that used to be RAF Bottisham. It supplies mainly wholesale to the catering trade in London and the East of England. Customers include such establishments as The Ivy, Midsummers House in Cambridge, and Riddington Grill.
Riverfarm uses three smokers: hot and cold smokers, and a chimney smoker. The hot smoker is used to produce hot smoked duck, chicken, salmon, eel, trout, mackerel, cod roe, and occasionally venison and beef fillet.
The cold smoker produces smoked salmon, smoked haddock, smoked cheddar and smoked camembert. The chimney is used to smoke bacon and ham, simply by lighting the fire in the chimney and leaving for three days.
Kirstan Horn, Sales Director, is one of a staff of just three at Riverfarm Smokery. He said:
'We are a very specialised small business, certainly not the cheapest smokehouse in the country, but we take a lot of time about what we do. We buy the best British produce we can, and if we can source locally, so much the better. Anglesey Abbey has been a good customer to us since the new Visitor Centre opened just over a year ago. Particular favourite products are the smoked cheeses, duck and salmon.'
Stonham Hedgerow, based in Hemingstone, Suffolk (supplies Trust properties across the East of England)
Stonham Hedgerow is a professionally run farm-based kitchen, producing a wide and interesting selection of preserves, marmalades, chutneys and jellies in catering and retail sizes.
The products are made by a team of skilled preserve makers in small quantities so that the high quality is maintained. Whole fruit is used and, whenever possible, the produce is Stonham Hedgerow's own, locally grown.
Jars are checked for quality, before being labelled and mob-capped by hand.
Kathy Neuteboom, MD of Stonham Hedgerow, said:
'When we started working with the National Trust over 12 years ago, it was one of the first big organisations to look for local producers. Supplying both catering and retail operations is great for us, as it gives people the chance to try the products in the restaurant before they buy them in the shop.'
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